Detect3D Technical Overview

6th June 2014

Prepared by INSIGHT NUMERICS

OLIVER HEYNES, PH.D

oheynes@insightnnumerics.com

INSIGHT NUMERICS | 51 Melcher Street, Boston, MA 02210, USA

Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1
Working with CAD........................................................................................................................ 1
Geometry Import ................................................................................................................................ 1
Geometry Creation ............................................................................................................................. 1
Computational Representation .......................................................................................................... 2
Fire Mapping ............................................................................................................................... 3
Specifying Flame Detector Models ..................................................................................................... 3
Calculating an Obstructed Field-of-View ............................................................................................ 3
Adding Flame Detectors...................................................................................................................... 4
Accounting for Fire Sizes ..................................................................................................................... 4
Gas Mapping................................................................................................................................ 4
Specified Gas Cloud Approach ............................................................................................................ 4
Adding Gas Detectors ......................................................................................................................... 5
Combustible and Toxic Gas Mapping.................................................................................................. 5
Fire Zones .................................................................................................................................... 6
Positioning and Discretization ............................................................................................................ 6
Accounting for Equipment Volume..................................................................................................... 6
Calculation of Coverage Statistics ....................................................................................................... 7
Risk Grading and Sub-zones ................................................................................................................ 7
Project Integration ....................................................................................................................... 8
Detect3D through the Design Phases ................................................................................................. 8
Capability in Development ........................................................................................................... 9
Optimization ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Gas Dispersion .................................................................................................................................... 9
References................................................................................................................................. 10

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Introduction
In 2013, Insight Numerics released the first version of Detect3D, a Windows-based software
product designed to enable engineers to perform 3D fire and gas (F&G) mapping. Detect3D is
unique among F&G software products in that it works directly with project CAD files, and
accounts the effect of all geometry on the detectors, such as obstructing a flame detector’s
field-of-view. This document provides a high-level summary of the technical workings of
Detect3D.

Working with CAD

Geometry Import
Detect3D natively supports six CAD formats (.dwg, .dxf, .igs, .stp, .obj and .stl). Any number of
CAD files can be loaded into a single project, and each CAD file may be of a different format.
For projects with CAD files that are not one of the supported formats, Insight Numerics will
convert the CAD format as part of the technical support that is included with a Detect3D
license. A native .dgn file format import capability is currently in development.

Figure 1. A screenshot of Detect3D showing a flame detector field of view (green) and fields of influence for point and open-
path gas detectors. Note that complex CAD geometries are easily imported and used in the fire and gas mapping study.

Geometry Creation
Geometry can also be created directly in Detect3D, so that simple models can be built from
drawings in cases where CAD files are not available (see Figure 2). The created geometry can
also be merged with CAD imported into the project, so small additions to the CAD file can be
made quickly.

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 Figure 2. Creating geometry directly in Detect3D from a drawing.

Computational Representation
Every geometry object loaded into Detect3D is converted into a triangular mesh. This means
that .obj and .stl CAD files are highly reliable formats since they already contain the
triangulated geometry, whereas more compressed formats such as .dwg, which do not
contain the underlying triangles, take longer to import since the triangulation must be
performed by Detect3D. It is recommended at present that CAD files be converted to .obj or
.stl files before loading into Detect3D using a commercial CAD package. The number of
triangles in the geometry directly affects the computation speed. When converting CAD files
to .obj or .stl formats, a minimum edge spacing of 0.1 m is recommended so that small
features are not overly resolved.

All triangles in the geometry are used in the computation – there is no “filtering” of small
triangles.

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Fire Mapping
Specifying Flame Detector Models
Detect3D allows the user to define new flame detector models and save them for future use.
Properties of the detector’s field of view (FOV) such as the maximum range, off-axis
degradation, and six different viewing angles can be specified. Virtually any field of view for a
flame detector can therefore be created and used in Detect3D projects. Insight Numerics are
closely working with flame detector manufacturers to provide a large database of models.

Figure 3. The flame detector model editor in Detect3D.

Calculating an Obstructed Field-of-View

The calculation of the obstructions presented by the 3D model to a flame detector’s FOV is
performed using ray casting. Typically, hundreds of thousands of rays are cast from the
detector and the intersection with each ray with the geometry is calculated using the ray-
triangle intersection algorithm below, which is based on the technique in Ref. [1] but has been
modified and accelerated for the demands of complex CAD files. An example using the FOV in
this study is shown in Figure 4. In the example in this figure, around 100,000 rays were cast
on a 40,000 triangle geometry, and the obstructed FOV was calculated in less than a second
on a single CPU of a mid-range laptop (2.3 GHz, 6Gb memory).

The users has considerable control over the resolution of the rays, and can specify both the
initial spacing (typically 1° is used) and the number of adaptive refinements (typically 2 levels
are used). The adaptive refinements cast additional rays where geometry has been detected,
in order to calculate the obstructed FOV with high accuracy but using a minimal number of
rays.

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Figure 4. A screenshot of Detect3D showing a flame detector field of view (green) and fields of influence for point and open-
path gas detectors. Note that complex CAD geometries are easily imported and used in the fire and gas mapping study.

Adding Flame Detectors

There are no restrictions on the number and type of flame detectors used in the project. Each
flame detector in the project may have different manufacturers and models, and different
resolution and accuracy settings. Positioning flame detectors can be achieved either by
manually input of the x, y, z coordinates and the azimuth and declination angles, or by using
the “pick” tool which provides point-and-click capability to choose points attached to the
geometry.

Accounting for Fire Sizes

In many F&G mapping projects, the size of the fire to be considered is specified in terms of
the fire’s power output. The most important way that this affects a Detect3D F&G mapping
project is the effect of the fire size on the detector’s FOV. In particular, the maximum range
of the detector increases when larger fire sizes are considered (the maximum range also
depends on factors such as the sensitivity setting of the detector). To account for this, the user
must create a new flame detector model that has an FOV tuned to the fire size under
consideration, and then change all the flame detectors in the project to use the newly created
model. This is a quick and simple task in Detect3D, as the detectors can all be changed to a
new model in a single click, and the project coverage statistics will automatically update.

Gas Mapping
Specified Gas Cloud Approach
Detect3D generates three-dimensional assessment of IR point and open-path gas detectors
by considering a spherical gas cloud at the LEL concentration. The approach is to use this gas
cloud to generate a “field of influence” for each detector type; that is, if the center of the gas
cloud is located in the field of influence, the detector will alarm. For point gas detectors, the
field of influence will directly correspond to the size of the spherical gas cloud – a 5m diameter
gas cloud will lead to a 5m field of influence for the point gas detector. The generation of the

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field-of-influence for open-path gas detectors is slightly more complex, as the beam that
intersects the spherical gas cloud must be of a certain length before it is goes into an alarm
state. The field of influence for an open-path gas detector resembles a rounded cylinder with
the centerline on the beam, and a diameter slightly less than the diameter of the gas cloud.
An example of the point and open path gas detector field of influence is shown on Figure 5
below.

The user can specify the cloud diameter used on the project.

Figure 5. Point and open-path gas detectors fields of view (blue) in Detect3D.

Adding Gas Detectors

Point and open-path gas detectors are easily positioned using direct coordinate input or by
using the “pick” tool. Under the specified gas cloud approach, the HI and LO alarms for point
gas detectors do not affect the coverage calculation since the gas cloud is at a constant LEL
concentration. The HI alarm for open-path gas detectors does affect the sized of the field of
influence as only part of the spherical gas cloud may intersect the beam.

There are no restrictions on the number or type of gas detectors used on the project.

Combustible and Toxic Gas Mapping

A present, only one gas mapping instance is available on a Detect3D project. However, as the
user has the ability to save project files, it is possible to save two versions of a single project,
one for combustible gas mapping and the other for toxic gas mapping. The cloud size, and
detector positions, may be changed in each version of the project. Although the default
nomenclature in Detect3D lends itself better to combustible gas detection, there is no reason
why the same capability cannot be used for toxic gas detection, as long as the specified gas
cloud approach is appropriate.

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Fire Zones
Positioning and Discretization
Fire zones are currently restricted to axis-aligned cuboid volumes and are defined by selecting
two opposing corner points. A point cloud is created within the fire zone boundary, and the
calculated coverage at each point (to both fire and gas detectors) provides the basis for the
coverage statistics.

The discretization of the fire zone, in other words the spacing between each point, affects the
accuracy of the simulation. Features of coverage with a length scale less than the point spacing
will not be resolved properly. It is important to choose the discretization carefully, and
consider the fire size specified in the F&G mapping project. Typically the point spacing should
not be greater than the dimensions of the fire under consideration.

The user can specify the point spacing but the default value of 0.25 m is typically appropriate.
For most fire zones, this will result in a background point cloud of hundreds of thousands, or
millions of points.

Figure 6. Point and open-path gas detectors fields of view (blue) in Detect3D.

The capability of specifying fire zones of a different shape (with rounded edges and some
regions removed entirely) is currently under development. This is explained later in this
document.

Accounting for Equipment Volume

Fire zones usually contain a significant amount of equipment, which may total 10 or 20% of
the total fire zone volume. Clearly, this equipment volume should be removed from the
calculation of coverage. This is handled automatically in Detect3D – a calculation is performed
to determine which points are within equipment and which are outside. Points that are
“internal” are not considered as part of the coverage calculation. An example of the internal
points in a fire zone is shown on Figure 7 , where a purple surface has been drawn around the
internal points.

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 Figure 7. Point and open-path gas detectors fields of view (blue) in Detect3D.

Calculation of Coverage Statistics

Detect3D is unique among F&G mapping software in that the coverage statistics are calculated
by volume. Unlike 2D mapping, where the statistics are calculated on a horizontal plane and
change depending on the height of that plane, there is only one set of coverage statistics for
a fire zone.

The coverage calculation determines, for each point, how many obstructed FOVs it is within
(fire mapping) and/or how many fields of influence it is in (gas mapping). Statistics are derived
simply from this data field, and are normalized by the number of external points in the point
cloud (rather than the cuboid volume of the fire zone – see the internal point calculation
section above). An example of the volume based statistical output is shown on Figure 8 below.

Figure 8. Point and open-path gas detectors fields of view (blue) in Detect3D.

Risk Grading and Sub-zones

In many projects, different areas within a fire zone will have different risk levels. The users has
the option in Detect3D of specifying three different risk grades. By default, these are named
using an A, B, C system with associated colors of red, orange and yellow, but the user can
change the name and the coloring of the risk zone to suit the project needs.

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 In each fire zone, the user can add any number of “sub-zones” which mark out different risk
areas in the fire zone (Figure 10). Coverage statistics are then calculated separately for each
risk grade in the fire zone as shown on Figure 11.

Figure 9. Point and open-path gas detectors fields of view (blue) in Detect3D.

Figure 10. Point and open-path gas detectors fields of view (blue) in Detect3D.

Project Integration
Detect3D through the Design Phases
Detect3D is a particularly useful tool if used early in the design process, as typical updates that
occur during the project lifecycle can be accounted for quickly and efficiently. For example,
the project can easily be updated with a new CAD file (including pipework, for instance) simply
by removing the obsolete geometry from the project and loading in the new geometry. All
aspects of the F&G mapping are automatically accounted for – the internal volume of all fire
zones is updated, the FOVs of the flame detectors are recalculated etc. With a few minutes
and updated set of coverage statistics are available.

Detect3D can even be used before CAD is available, using the features in the software to
create geometry. Since the large objects are the ones that primarily affect the coverage, even
a coarse geometry representation can lead to useful results.

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Capability in Development
Optimization
Using optimization techniques with Detect3D would allow engineers to find the optimal
location of detectors. That is, for a given set of performance criteria, the software will
calculate the minimum number of detectors required to comply with that criteria. This is
particularly useful for complex geometries, where the best positioning of the detectors may
not be apparent.

The optimization will require some use input upfront, for example, to define potential
locations for the detectors that are easy for installation and maintenance. However, once the
simulation has been set up, it is essentially a “fire and forget” exercise as the optimization
automatically evaluates thousands of layouts. Insight Numerics may provide access to cloud
services to lighten the hardware load.

Gas Dispersion
Improvements in the technique for positioning gas detectors are high on the development list.
Some progress has been made in implementing a simple gas dispersion model into Detect3D.
This model adds a “Release” object to the project, where the user can specify the location,
orientation, and other properties of the release such as mass flow rate. The concentration
field is then calculated using a Gaussian dispersion model, and visualized using concentration
isosurfaces as shown in Figure 11. An additional output table shows the alarm state of the
point and open-path gas detectors (HI, LO or none) to each release defined in the project.

Figure 11. Point and open-path gas detectors fields of view (blue) in Detect3D.

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References
[1] MÖLLER,T & TRUMBORE, B. Fast, Minimum Storage Ray/Triangle Intersection. Journal of
Graphics, GPU and Game Tools 2(1):21-28, 1997.
[2] Fire and Gas Detection. BP Group Practice Document No. GP 30-85.

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